Sugar Addiction Is a Real Thing—And Yes, There's a Cure

Hi, my name is Cheryl and I'm addicted to sugar

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Hi, my name is Cheryl and I'm an addict. My drug of choice? That sweet, sweet white powder. Yep, I jones for sugar.

People often toss off remarks like, 'Oh, I'm totally addicted to these cronuts!' But there's scientific evidence that sugar can be just as addictive as cigarettes or drugs. This just got real.

Nicole M. Avena, PhD, a neuroscientist and addiction expert, just published a book with co-author John R. Talbott called, Why Diets Fail: Because You're Addicted to Sugar. The title, a culmination of 10 years of research on food dependency, explains how and why sugar affects some of us so profoundly, plus a program for gently kicking your sugar habit.

"There are these pathways in the brain that are known to be activated by substance abuse and they happen to be the same pathways that can be activated by food," Avena says. "This might explain in part why so many people have a hard time controlling their intake even though you know you're only supposed to have one or two cookies." As a person who has killed an entire box of Oreos in two sittings, this resonates with me. According to Avena, the data shows that about 11% of the general population meets the criteria for food addiction. Because it's so palatable, sugar is one of the more common things humans crave.

Like any good addiction program, the first step is admitting you have a problem. For me, this involved taking a modified version of the Yale Food Addiction Scale, which can be found in Avena's book. I knew I was in trouble after the first two questions: "I find myself consuming certain foods even though I am no longer hungry" and "I worry about cutting down on certain foods." (Um, hi, afternoon cookies and Starburst.)

Trying to quantify how much sugar you eat comes next. Annie Fox, the director of programming for Hearst Digital, did a surprising analysis of her sugar intake before she decided to give it up—with the help of the online "I Quit Sugar" program—a few weeks ago.

"When I was first asked how much sugar I thought I had in a day, I guessed it was less than the daily recommended amount," Fox said. "When I actually took stock, it turns out it was about four times that—about 40 teaspoons a day roughly."

While I knowingly do things like dump extra sugar in my coffee and snack on yogurt that is so sweet it makes my teeth hurt, sugar is lurking in lots of unexpected places, like salad dressing and salami. SALAMI. You have to really read labels. (If you're interested in more information about sources of hidden sugar, check out Avena's Psychology Today blog post on the subject here.)

Avena recommends a stepwise approach for eliminating sugar. "People talk about quitting cold turkey, and while that might work for some people, the foods containing sugar are just so vast. It can be really overwhelming to try to give them all up at once," she warns. "You have to come up with something to eat instead that will satisfy your craving."

Giving up sugar too quickly can also cause traditional withdrawal symptoms. In animal studies, rats that had been fed a steady diet of sugar water exhibited signs of depression, anxiety, and lethargy when the sweet water was removed. Fox experienced this, too, after she transitioned from 40 teaspoons of sugar a day to just five in the course of a week. "The first two weeks were really hard. As soon as I was fighting the cravings I realized how often I wanted sugar, especially right after I finished a meal," she said. "I also got stomach cramps and headaches."

Avena's approach involves giving up things every few weeks. Start by removing sugary beverages like juice and soda, then move on to junk food, then reduce—though not completely remove—carbohydrates such as cereal and bread. Finally, you should try to reduce those foods containing "hidden" sugar like the aforementioned salad dressings. (Condiments are sneaky—even mayonnaise contains sugar!) This requires educating yourself about all the aliases sugar goes by on packaging.

According to Avena, there are about 52 different names for sugar. "It's not going to say just 'sugar' on the back. It might say 'maltodextrose' or 'dextrin,' or some other chemical sounding name," she warned. "Unless you're familiar with it, you won't know that it's just a code word for sugar."

So if you're successful quitting sugar, what benefits can you expect? My hope, and it's the premise of Avena's book, is to lose some weight and feel less lethargic in the afternoons. Fox found that her skin improved, she started sleeping better, and she had more energy for her workouts. "Since controlling my sugar, I feel like I have reset my body in a weird way. I don't feel as edgy or anxious," she said. "I don't yawn for an hour between 3pm and 4pm."

Finally, giving up sugar should revive your taste buds. I mentioned to Avena that over the holidays I tried to substitute a handful of blueberries for a handful of M&M's with poor results. She said that because we're so over-stimulated with sweetness all day, we don't notice it in foods that are naturally sweet. Fox experienced this. "The real freaky side effect is my sense of taste. Now I can taste sweetness in foods that I never noticed before, like broccoli."

While I'm not sure I'll ever consider broccoli worthy of dessert, the concept of quitting, or at least cutting down on, sugar appeals to me. I'm going to start—just as soon as I finish this bag of Swedish fish.